Pallets generally include a deck having an upper surface for supporting goods off the ground. The pallet includes feet or columns for supporting the deck above the ground and for defining space for receiving the forks of a pallet lift.
One existing pallet is typically narrower than standard sized pallets (a “half-size” pallet). It is narrow enough that, when engaged from the short side, the columns of the pallet are received between the forks of the pallet lift and the forks of the pallet lift engage the underside of the deck outward of the columns. However, the forks of the pallet are only partially overlapped by the deck, so the forks protrude outward from the deck too. Therefore, if the selected pallet is between two identical pallets, the forks will also engage the bottom surfaces of the decks on either side of the desired pallet, making it difficult to select and remove one pallet from adjacent pallets.
One proposed solution has been to add a lift rail to each of the forks. The lift rails are each connected to one of the forks by hinges on the facing interior surfaces of the forks. When stowed, the lift rails hang down from the hinges adjacent the facing interior surfaces of the forks. For use, the lift rails are rotated upward until the lift rails are on top of the uppermost surfaces of the forks, adjacent the interior edges thereof. When lifting a pallet, the lift rails engage the pallet of the desired pallet before the forks engage the decks of the adjacent pallets. Thus, the desired pallet can be lifted and removed from between adjacent pallets.